Henry: Calculating error undercuts column’s conclusion

Tuesday

Apr 29, 2014 at 12:31 AM

The magnitude of the error in "The fallacy at the core of wind power" [MetroWest Daily News, April 28] is stunning. No one seems to understand the relationship between a megawatt and a megawatt-hour.A 2.5 megawatt turbine could in principle run 8,544 hours per year (24 hours per day times 365 days per year), and produce 21,360 megawatt-hours per year.Since the wind is only favorable 30 percent of the time, in practice the output would be more like 6,408 megawatt-hours per year.It is a shame that so much editorial space was devoted to expounding on such a simple yet huge error. And sad that many will see the column and believe that wind power is not viable, when in fact it is a cost-competitive source of power in many locations.PETER HENRYFramingham

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